The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Astilbe plant, botanically known as Astilbe chinensis and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Purple Rain’.
The new Astilbe plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Roelofarendsveen, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to create new compact Astilbe plants with attractive foliage and flower coloration.
The new Astilbe plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in 1998 in Roelofarendsveen, The Netherlands, of two unnamed seedling selections of Astilbe chinensis, not patented. The new Astilbe plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Roelofarendsveen, The Netherlands in 2000.
Asexual reproduction of the new Astilbe plant by divisions in a controlled environment in Roelofarendsveen, The Netherlands since December, 2003, has shown that the unique features of this new Astilbe plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.